after some newspaper reporters tracked down an 11 washington. but there were other -- one of the great documents i found was from 1957 when thurmond gave his filibuster, yeah, for 24 hours in 1 18 minutes, there was an im published in the african-american university, the chicago defender. and the bulk of the item was puzzling over how was the thurmond was able to speak for 24 hours and 18 minutes with only one bathroom break. you've got to keep your voice lubricated. you've got to keep drinking water. the story the thurmond told to the press was he had gone down to the senate steam room and had intentionally dehydrated himself so when he drank water his body would absorb it like a sponge. i asked a urologist friend of mine about the viability of that, and he was pretty dubious. but that's the story but that's the story that's always been told. what was interesting about the peace in the african-american newspaper, the chicago defender, they said that the rumor around the capitol hill was that thurmond had been outfitted with a device designed fo